New Orleans Voodoo Hoodoo

Hoodoo & Conjure Quarterly: A New Journal for Rootworkers and Eclectic Practitioners of the Magickal Arts with a Special Focus on New Orleans Voodoo, Hoodoo and Folklore

Recognizing the resurgence of folk magic and the growing community of hoodoos, healers, and conjurers, Planet Voodoo  has created a new, high quality journal that meets the needs of today’s conjurers and the curious. Hoodoo & Conjure Quarterly journal shares historical and contemporary information about aspects of the conjure arts, including magico-religious practices, spiritual traditions, folk magic, hoodoo, and religions with their roots in the African Diaspora and indigenous herbology. Each issue of Hoodoo & Conjure Quarterly magazine brings you original and traditional formulas, spells, tutorials, root doctor, spiritual mother, and conjure artist profiles, workshop listings, book, product, & website reviews, and more!

Hoodoo & Conjure Quarterly is a thoroughly researched periodical created by New Orleans-born author, artist, rootworker, and PhD level social scientist Denise Alvarado and her business partner Sharon Marino, and New Orleans style Voodooist, eclectic witch, and Wiccan High priestess. When you read a copy of Hoodoo & Conjure Quarterly, you can be confident that what you read is the real thing. Whether you are a beginner who is just intrigued by the notion of folk magic, want to pick up some techniques for your trick bag, add to your personal grimoire, want to learn about the African -derived and indigenous spiritual traditions, or want to keep up with the social world of today’s practitioners, Hoodoo & Conjure Quarterly delivers!

The content of Hoodoo & Conjure Quarterly comes from a variety of channels. There is a veritable hoodoo admixture of contributors that includes several notable authors, as well as “regular folks” from the hoodoo and conjures community. The intentional input of professionals and experienced lay people involved in varying degrees in the magickal arts guarantees the reader receives multiple perspectives, a broader base of information, and cross-cultural and cross-regional views of occult phenomenon. Our contributors include Aylene Pustiano, New Orleans author, occultist and paranormal researcher who specializes in New Orleans folklore; Dorothy Morrison, a practicing Witch for nearly 40 years, and award-winning author of numerous books on Witchcraft and its practical application to everyday living; Chad C. Balthazar, a gifted reader and rootworker, avid blogger, current resident of Amsterdam who was born and raised in Africa, and descendent of a line of mediums, dreamers and madmen; Madrina Angelique, Tarot Reader, Conjure Woman and Mojo Witch, as well as Madre Nganga of Munanso Centella Ndoki Nkuyo Malongo Corta Lima Cordosa and Iyalorisha of Ile Ori Yemaya, born and raised in rural Georgia, and student and practitioner of traditional southern hoodoo since childhood, among others.

In addition to written content, Hoodoo & Conjure Quarterly is richly illustrated with high resolution photography and vivid graphics featuring my own artwork, as well as the artwork of Ricardo Pustiano, an enduring icon in the world of New Orleans Mardi Gras float design and local New Orleans artistry. Pustiano’s artistic designs are featured in some of the best-known, locally produced films including “Angel Heart” starring Mickey Rourke, “The Big Easy” starring Dennis Quaid, Anne Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire” starring Tom Cruise, and most recently in the much anticipated “A Love Song for Billy Long” which stars John Travolta and was filmed on location in historic New Orleans.

There will be regular features found in Hoodoo & Conjure Quarterly, including a Hoodoo pharmacopeia that provides information on elements of magico-pharmacology and highlights different zoological and mineral curios; an ongoing formulary of recipes and formulas of magickal oils, potions, sachet powders and more; magick spells and illustrated tutorials such as potted plant spells, bottle spells, and lamp works; a section on Biblical Hoodoo providing information on working with the saints, psalms, & candles; Indian Spirit Guides and the contribution of Native Americans to Hoodoo, Folk magick, and Spiritualism; contests for free products, and much, much more! 

In addition to being the only printed popular magazine to have ever been published with a focus on Hoodoo and conjure from around the world, the journal relies on the homegrown brand of conjure found in my hometown of New Orleans. Forever the subject of horror movies, Voodoo dolls, zombies, and novels with supernatural themes, New Orleans is a culture with a serious history behind its story of magick and religion that should be understood, appreciated, and remembered, as opposed to simply exploited and misappropriated. While Hoodoo & Conjure Quarterly aims to be entertaining, it also strives to be informative and educational.

Hoodoo & Conjure Quarterly is a printed journal consisting of four annual issues. The first issue is due out October 2010. To order your subscription, please visit http://www.planetvoodoo.com/hoodoo-conjure-quarterly.htm.

 

About the Author:

Denise Alvarado was born and raised in the Voodoo and hoodoo rich culture of New Orleans. She has studied mysticism and practiced Creole Voodoo and indigenous healing traditions for over three decades. Her talks, seminars, and coaching on indigenous healing traditions and the magickal arts have helped thousands of people around the globe improve their lives and market their businesses successfully. She is the author of several books, including The Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook, Voodoo Dolls in Magick and Ritual, and the brand new release, The Voodoo Doll Spellbook: A Complete Compendium of Ancient and Contemporary Spells and Rituals. She is a cultural psychologist, anthropologist, author, artist, rootworker, and cultural consultant.

Voodoo Ted - For the Die Hard Greenbay Packers Fan

    Voodoo Ted was created specifically for the diehard Green Bay Packers fan who has a bone to pick with GM Ted Thompson. Many fans, and you know who you are, feel that some of his decisions, particularly with regards to Brett Favre, have been just plain whack! Come on Ted, don't bench a legend! Bring Favre back! Better yet, let's bench Thompson! Voodoo Ted comes with a hanging rope and two Voodoo pins to work your mojo for boon or bane. Oh yeah, and a cheesehead hat of course. Instructions included. Available at Planet Voodoo.

How to Make a Voodoo Doll on You Tube

While most videos on YouTube are concerned with music/bands, horror flicks, or funny little movies about hexing roomates, bosses, and neighbors, this video gives instructions about how to make a Voodoo doll in a creative way. Check it out here; it's not your ordinary instructional video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PKDs8-8cGc

I tried to embed the actual video but for some reason it didn't work so we'll have to make do with the link. Don't forget to comment, rate, and fav it! Oh and, dig the music? It's Studio Voodoo - they'll change the way you listen to music forever!

Blessings,

Voodoo Mama
The Mystic Voodoo
Planet Voodoo

How to Conjure Up Art

Check this out...I got this little video from a friend of mine who is an intuitive artist. That just means she operates like I do but I call it conjuring :) In any event, check out her process and the surprise at the end.

She calls it: Intuitive Drawing Tutorial - Spirit Guide 101

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKQ4sqcTxdQ

watch video

To view her blog, check out Intuitive Portraits on Squidoo.

To make you own lens, click on the link below.

http://www.squidoo.com/lensmaster/referral/voodoomama

That's all for now.
Blessings,

Voodoomama
http://www.mysticvoodoo.com
http://www.planetvoodoo.com
http://www.nativewellness.info

A Brief History of Voodoo Dolls

When you are in a state of nonacceptance, it's difficult to learn. A clenched fist cannot receive a gift, and a clenched psyche -- grasped tightly against the reality of what must not be accepted -- cannot easily receive a lesson. -- Roger John

The making of Voodoo dolls, poppets, fetishes, and ritual effigies has taken place since antiquity. Though the practice is ancient, their present use remains similar. In order to understand how to use your Voodoo doll or poppet, it is useful to understand them in their historic context. Much can be learned from studying the ancient cultures and mystics who held the esoteric knowledge that forms the very foundation of modern day magick, Voodoo, and witchcraft.

Vodun is sometimes called Voodoo, Vodoun, or Vodou. Religions related to Vodun are: Candomble, Lucumi, Macumba, and Yoruba). New Orleans Voodoo is a conglomeration of cultural and spiritual belief systems strongly influenced by the ancient Voodoo religion of Africa, the Vodou religion of Haiti, the healing arts of Native American people, the folk magic of Europe, and Catholicism. Voodoo is culture, heritage, philosophy, art, dance, language, medicine, music, justice, power, storytelling & ritual. Voodoo is a way of looking at and dealing with life. It heals and destroys, is both good and bad, and is simple in concept and complex in practice. Voodoo reflects the duality of the nature of the rattlesnake; its poison is toxic but its poison is needed to heal the same toxin. Voodoo is open to all yet holds many secrets & mysteries to those who are uninitiated.

The word voodoo means “spirit of God.” Voodoo believers accept the existence of one god, below which are the powerful spirits often referred to as Loa. These powerful spirits are responsible for the daily matters in life in the areas of family, love, money, happiness, wealth, and revenge. Voodoo has its roots in the trauma of many people. It originated from the African ancestors who were brought to the Caribbean in bondage. Christopher Columbus set the stage in 1492 for the development of Voodoo when countless Tainos were murdered in an attempt to enslave them during the colonization of Hispaniola. With a lack of indigenous people to function as slaves, and the cost of European servants prohibitive, the slave trade between West and Central Africa began (Long, 2000). In 1697 the French acquired one third of Hispaniola and worked the slaves literally to death. The average survival rate of slaves at that time was only about 10 years. This made the slave population ripe for continual replenishment, and the slave population grew from several thousand to half a million. The slave population was extremely diverse with many different tribes representing many religions, languages, and belief systems. It is during this time of the French occupation that the basic structure of Voodoo as we know it today developed. The colonizers believed that by separating families and individual nations, the slave population would not unite as one people. On the contrary, the Africans found commonalities in their belief systems and religions and began invoking their own spirits and practicing each other’s religious rites. In addition, the surviving Taino Indians exerted some influence over the practice of Voodoo, especially in the area of the healing arts. As well, the indentured servants of Europe brought their folk magic, which was incorporated into the Voodoo religion. The Roman Catholic Church, ever finding ways to convert people to the church, and the entity to which the French answered, insisted on treating the slaves better and had them baptized and instructed in the practice of Catholicism (Hanger, 1997). The slave population soon began to mask their rituals and beliefs in Catholicism. It is the conglomeration and syncretism of these diverse cultural belief systems that comprised the first Creole religion and makes Voodoo what it is today. To make a very long story short, the slaves eventually rebelled and drove out the French and the Catholic Church. Years of oppression and persecution followed, with the Voodoo considered Satanism by the Catholic church and evangelical Protestants. This caused Voodoo to go undergraound and flourish. The Catholic church eventually made peace with the Voodoo and it is now accepted as an established religion. The practice of sticking pins in dolls has history in European folk magic, but its exact origins are unclear. How it became known as a method of cursing an individual by some followers of what has come to be called New Orleans Voodoo, which is a local variant of hoodoo, is a mystery. Some speculate that it was used as a means of self defense to intimidate superstitious slave owners. This practice is not unique to New Orleans voodoo, however, and has as much basis in European-based magical devices such as the poppet and the nkisi or bocio of West and Central Africa.

Today, Voodoo dolls can be found almost anywhere and for almost any purpose. From the novelty typoes, like the George Bush Voodoo dolls, to the magickal types found at any number of mystical sites and shops, to the Voodoo dolls of the artsitic variety such as the type I make and sell at The Mystic Voodoo and Planet Voodoo.

To learn how to make your own Voodoo dolls, check out  my other blog Voodoo Art Dolls.

More later. Blessings,

Voodoo Mama

http://www.mysticvoodoo.com

http://www.planetvoodoo.com

http://www.marketingalchemy.net